Sportive update from Merijn Zeeman
Hi everyone, It's time again for an update towards all colleagues.
What a wonderful month of racing we have had. As you know, we named winning the Giro d'Italia as one of our big main goals. Again, we set the bar extremely high (just like in the spring) and we succeeded! It was our pink dream to win the Giro d'Italia as well. Team Jumbo-Visma is now one of the few teams in the world to have won all three grand tours. What a fantastic achievement! Sporting history has been written! And so, once again, warmest congratulations to Primoz, his teammates and all the staff members who made these achievements possible!
An extra thankful mention to the whole Giro staff and the staff back in the Netherlands who were busy for the Giro. It was another Italian chaos, which demanded a lot of flexibility from everyone. Super how you dealt with it!
It was great to see so many people in our building on Tuesday to celebrate the Giro win. It shows that we really do it together! Everyone who helped to make this possible; thank you!
The month already started well, as our women won the prestigious team time trial of the Vuelta. Marianne also won two stages and the sprint jersey. As icing on the cake, Riejanne finished in a nice fourth place in the general classification! Well done ladies!
The future of our team also announced itself again. Menno won the tough Fleche Ardennaise and Per won the queen stage in Dunkerque. Olav again showed himself as a future top sprinter by winning two stages in Dunkerque.
During the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France selection was at Sierra Nevada preparing itself for our next main goal: winning the Tour de France. Again, we are not going to hide it and clearly express our ambition: we want to win the yellow jersey again. Under varying weather conditions, many hours and intervals were completed. This under the high-quality guidance of the staff, performance chefs and coaches. Wonderful to see this group of men fully committed to the next main goal. We are all working extremely hard to be physically and mentally ready for a fierce fight. In the background, we work hard on the best strategy, the optimal nutrition, the optimal equipment and the optimal division of tasks and roles. Again, many people are involved and it is all about the best cooperation to get the best out of each other. Together, we work towards our main goal and we try to do so in the best way possible and in a safe environment that we can offer each other.
An extra mention for the commercial and marketing team led by Arlette, who came to Sierra for a content moment. I am proud to see how we combine high-level sports with commerce and marketing. The riders show a lot of professionalism and the commercial people show a lot of understanding and knowledge of top-class sport. In this way, we show how a modern commercial sports team really works well.
A bummer during training camp was Giancarlo's crash. A small slip caused a major injury for Giancarlo. Bummer for him and once again wishing you a speedy recovery, Gianca! Miki once again proved to be a great team player as he was quick to replace Giancarlo. Top Miki!
Beautiful things and excitement awaits us in the coming month. The women are heading to Italy for the Giro. The devo men are doing the same. Good luck to them! The Tour preparation will continue in the Dauphiné and in Switzerland, followed by the final altitude training in Tignes for the finishing touches.
I wish everyone good luck and let's all do our best!